


The Thirteenth Tower

by Blue_Night



Category: Darkover Series - Marion Zimmer Bradley, Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fights, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psionic Power, Telepathy, War Era, Wraith (Stargate)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-28 05:02:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6315826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Night/pseuds/Blue_Night
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an alternate reality during the war with the Ancients, the Wraith Commander, who will be called Todd ten thousand years later, tries to find the modified Attero-device before the Ancients will be able to use it and extinct his entire species. Trapped in an outpost of the Ancients, where he had hoped to find the weapon, he finds a young woman with powerful psionic abilities who obviously came through the quantum mirror they found in one of the labs. Margali Hastur calls herself the keeper of the tower Arilinn from the planet Darkover, and her telepathic power is even stronger than the power of any Wraith Queen. Will Margali help the Wraith who saved her from dying in the destroyed outpost finding the Attero device and what have the mysterious blue gems that came with her through the mirror to do with her power?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Worlds Colliding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dulinneth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dulinneth/gifts).



> Happy birthday, my dear Dulinneth! 
> 
> The idea to this story popped up in my mind last Friday, and I actually mused about writing a story about Darkover for a rather long time. I grew up with the books of Darkover from the genius author Marion Zimmer Bradley and I read them at least five times, even though the last time has been a couple of years ago. Knowing that you don't know the books I'll do my very best to write the parts about Darkover so you can understand them, I hope that this crossover will work out in a believable way.  
> I know that you actually prefer stories with female/male pairings and therefore, I broke my rule to not write Todd with anybody else than John Sheppard, but this story is settled during the war with the Ancients, and the women from Darkover are fascinating and powerful beings, especially the keepers of the tower circles worshiped like sacrosanct priests, so this pairing will work, I guess. The Hastur family is the most powerful family of the planet Darkover, but Margali is my own original character. The Comyn are the descendants of the humans who had once crashed with their spaceship on the planet and the native long-living and hermaphrodite race called Chieri. The Chieri have laran and six fingers, and some Comyn have six fingers, as well. A lot of them have red hair and grey eyes like their Gaelic ancestors from the spaceship. The timeline on the planet Darkover is in the late years of the era of chaos.  
> The number of towers on Darkover is not clear, I chose to let Darkover have the twelve towers that are described or at least mentioned in the books, therefore the title of this story: the thirteenth tower.
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this little story I'll write for you, my dear friend!
> 
> Laran: the name of the psionic abilities of the aristocratic castes of Darkover.  
> Teneresteis: the Casta-word for a female keeper of a tower circle  
> Casta: the high-level language of Darkover, a mixture of Gaelic, Spanish, English and Latin  
> Comyn: the name of all aritocratic castes of Darkover  
> Hastur: the highest Comyn-caste  
> Leronis: woman educated in the use of laran in a tower, using it to heal injured and sick people for example. (comparable with a white witch)  
> Arilinn: the most important tower of Darkover  
> Tower: building in which the circles work, using laran to produce electricity, mine metal, but also to transport messages with telepathy or build weapons.  
> Every young Comyn has to spend some time in one of the towers to be educated in the careful use of laran.  
> Matrix/Starstone: Blue gem amplifying and pooling laran. Several matrices build a matrix-shield of great power used by the circles for their work.  
> Every woman and man with laran has a personal, attuned matrix which cannot be touched by others without endangering both.  
> Only keepers and leroni should touch personal matrices if absolute necessary.  
> Catmen: native species living on Darkover, hostile towards the Darkoveraner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wraith Commander (Todd) and his team is trapped in an Ancient outpost and have to find a way to get out of there. In one lab, they find a young, mysterious woman who apparently came through the quantum mirror...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday again, my dear Dulinneth. This story will probably have 5 chapters (who knows, I most of the times write more than I had actually planned), and I'll do my very best to finish it asap. I really hope you will like this fic. Please, let me know. :-)

“Commander, we have to get out of here!” The scream of the other Wraith echoed in his head and in the heavy air filled with thick, black smoke. The Commander knew that his second-in-command was right, Wraith could stand fire and toxic gases for longer than humans, but they would die the death of suffocation sooner rather than later if they didn't find a way to get out of this mouse-trap.

The tall Wraith bared his teeth to an angry hiss, blindly searching his way through the darkness enlightened only by the blazing devices in the Ancient outpost. His team consisting of four officers and one scientist of his crew followed him, guided by his mind because they couldn't see him through the black smoke. He should have known that this wasn't the right place, only a trap meant to kill him and his team, and to make sure that the Ancients would be able to finish their weapon in time so they could use it against their enemies and extinct all Wraith.

He needed to reach his Hive and start his search on another planet, but first, they had to get out of this building before they would burn to death. The Wraith had to rely on his other senses as he groped for the door that would ensure their escape, and after long seconds with the howling flames coming closer and closer to them, licking their way along the consoles and the computers and destroying everything and everyone within their reach.

Suddenly, he felt the panel attached to the door frame underneath his fingertips, and the Commander sent out a strong call to his teammates as he tried to open the door with his fingers flying urgently over the panel. The smoke choked him, and he felt dizzy and disorientated, but he didn't falter in his tries, and just when he thought that he would lose consciousness because of the lack of air, the door gave in, gliding to the side with a creaking noise for a few centimeters. Fresh air gusting through the slit inflamed the fire further, the crackling sounds of the burning furniture becoming almost deafening. The tall Wraith braced his hands against the door to push it further to the side just when his warriors stumbled into sight, their figures coated with ash and soot. Two of them helped him while his second and one of the younger Wraith carried the fifth between them. Time stretched to an eternity, but then, the slit was wide enough for them to sneak themselves through it, the Commander taking the injured one over his shoulder as they ran through the corridor in the direction of the exit.

“He needs to feed, Commander, or he will die!” his second stated, urgently, and the older Wraith grimly nodded his head. “I know, second. I know he is your brother and that you want to save him, but first, we have to get out of here!” He hadn't finished his sentence when he had to let himself fall down onto the ground, protecting the unconscious male he had carried with his own body as he did so. He cried out a short warning and jerked his weapon upwards to respond to the sudden attack coming from somewhere in front of them. The shot of several weapons grazed the wall over their heads, and the Wraith could see three of the hated Ancients disappearing around the next corner from where they shot at them, again.

“We need a cover!” The Commander yelled while setting the corridor in front of them under fire with his stunner. He must have hit one of the humans, because there was a strangled, pained cry and the firing stopped all of a sudden. He rolled to the side, looking for another way to escape the fire that would destroy the entire floor, soon, because the automatic extinguishing system apparently didn't work any longer. His eyes fell upon another door he hadn't noticed beforehand, and he came up to his knees, waving at his subordinates to follow him. The Ancients had obviously decided to escape themselves, because the shooting had stopped, entirely, and the Commander could hear the faint sounds of footsteps hammering onto the floor as the soldiers made their way into relative safety. He knew that they would await them outside the building and that he would have to find another way to leave this facility. His instincts told him to run after them and fight, but he was the only one knowing enough about this weapon the Ancients had constructed to kill an entire race to get the chance and destroy it in time, and he needed to be alive and unharmed for that. His Queen had sacrificed herself and her flagship to give him the chance to fulfill his mission and rescue their species from being extincted, and he would be successful, no matter what, revenging her death this way.

The door opened without any problems this time, and the Wraith gratefully sucked in the cool and fresh air filling the gloomy corridor. The weight of his wounded officer was heavy on his shoulder, but the Commander didn't slow down, running along the in a dark-red light glowing tube until they had to stop because the corridor suddenly ended. There were three large doors, and the Wraith wasn't so sure whether one of them would lead upwards and back to the surface of the planet or if they would lead them deeper into this labyrinth of corridors and labs. He hesitated for one second and then, pressed his hand onto the panel of the right gate.

 

*~*~*~*

 

_“Teneresteis! They are coming! We need to use the new matrix-shield to defeat them!” Margali Hastur of Hastur didn't turn around to her first matrix-mechanic as she headed to the room where the circle was waiting for her. Rakhal followed her, his voice urgent as he repeated what he had just said. “Teneresteis, please, we need to use the new shield! Hali is too powerful and dangerous, they're using matrices of level six and they attack us with three circles! We need the new shield to defend us against them!”_

_Margali pressed her lips to a thin line as she entered the hall, her circle waiting for her greeting her with a bow and a telepathic touch in her mind. “We cannot use the new shield, Rakhal, you know that! It isn't tested for using it to defend ourselves against the attack of another tower circle. The biggest matrix we used to build it reaches at least level seven, probably eight. It is too dangerous! I don't know if I will be able to control it. We will use the other shield.”_

_Rakhal's gray eyes showed his determination as much as his faith in his keeper. “You are the most powerful keeper of every tower, Teneresteis, and you already proved that you can control this shield,” he said, and Margali found herself wavering between her common sense that told her that they shouldn't used the most powerful matrix-shield existing on Darkover as a weapon and her instinct to protect Arilinn and defend it at all cost._

_She knew that there was no time left to test the shield, her head still throbbed from the last attack they had withstood and fought back only two hours ago. The three other circles of Arilinn were still working, shielding the tower against the permanent attack from the tower of Hali when she had needed to rest after six hours of constantly channeling the laran of her own, largest circle of eight mechanics, but she knew that her beloved Arilinn would fall if she didn't use all of her power and strength to protect it._

_“Teneresteis!” Linnea Ridenow cried out, her body convulsing in pain as a new wave of hostile laran power shot through the brain of every member of the four circles._

_“Alright, we will use the new shield!” Margali heard herself say, her voice far too calm and quiet for this moment. Rakhal sighed with relief, joining the circle and waiting for his adored keeper to pool the energons of her mechanics, channel them and amplify them through the in a dangerous light-blue glaring matrix-shield to throw all of their laran-power at the attackers from the other tower._

_Margali Hastur knew that people would die today, people who had once been friends, relatives but were only enemies now in the horrible war that threatened to tear Darkover apart and destroy the entire planet if no one stopped the towers from fighting against each other._

_The female keeper blinked, pushing these thoughts back into the farthest corner of her mind and emptying her brain to let only the laran of her circle flow, freely. The blue shine of the matrices was blinding and hurt in the eyes even through her closed eyelids, and the energons coursing through her body seemed to burn her from the inside, but Margali only increased her efforts as the full power of the telepathic attack hit the shield. The fire of pure energy licking at every cell of her body made her cry out, mentally, and the pained scream of her circle she could hear through their link echoed in her mind, deafening and drowning out every other sound._

_The bundled force of the three circles of the Hali tower tried to push through their shield, but their matrix-shield was too weak to break the wall Margali had built against them, and the keeper pooled all the laran of her circle together with the other three of her tower, determined to not let them destroy her beloved Arilinn. The blue shine of the shield turned into a bright white as the world suddenly seemed to explode around her, and Margali screamed in agony as the unrestrained laran of four circles floated back to her in a short circuit before everything went dark, merciful blackness swallowing her and erasing every emotion._

 

*~*~*~*

 

The room behind the gate lit up in a warm yellow light when the Commander entered it together with his team, and the silent humming of several computers starting to work was almost calming. The Wraith looked around, coming to an abrupt halt when he noticed the quantum mirror standing before the wall opposite the entrance of the lab. The Wraith had never seen one of those mirrors before, but he knew that the Ancients experimented with them, using them to visit alternative realities, and he recognized the device, instantly. They had probably also used it to improve the weapon against their enemies they were building, hoping that the Ancients of another reality had solved the problem of the exploding Stargates when they used the modified attero-device to destroy each and every Hive existing in the Pegasus galaxy.

The mirror itself wasn't what made the tall Wraith stop in the middle of his movements though, but the young human female lying on the ground before it. His informant had told him that the outpost was only held by a couple of soldiers protecting the few scientists working here, clandestinely, the small number risky but needed to not arouse unwanted attention, and he had assured him that all of them were male, so the presence of a female Ancient was unexpected, even more because she lay there alone and helplessly on the floor, either unconscious or dead. Her face was white like snow except for the nasty bump on her temple shimmering violet because of the bruise that had formed underneath the smooth skin. She wore a magnificent, carmine dress, and her mahogany-red hair floated in tousled locks over her slim back where it had slipped out of the barrette. For a human woman, she was a real, astonishing beauty, the Commander could see that despite the wound and the dirt covering her face and her figure.

For one moment, he stood there, unable to move, staring down at the young woman and asking himself from where she had appeared. Had she come through the mirror or had she lived here together with the scientists and the soldiers? Had they forgotten her when they had escaped in great haste?

She was definitely not a servant, her delicate features and her dress proved that she belonged to the higher caste of human aristocrats.

His second-in-command pulled him out of his frozen state though, because the other Wraith stormed forward with a roar, determined to feed on this woman if she was still alive to save his injured brother.

Before the Commander could react and order him to stop, his subordinate had bent over her lifeless figure and pressed his feeding hand against her sternum. A strange light-blue shine exploded under the green-white claws, and his second roared again, this time in pain and startled rage. An invisible force threw him through the air until his flight was stopped by the wall next to the door and he fell down onto the ground with another scream.

The body of the unknown woman convulsed several times and she came to her senses with a sharp cry of pain. Then, she sat there, looking around with wide and wild silver-grey eyes, her face a mask of horror, and the Commander flinched when she opened her mouth in a furious shout:

“DON'T TOUCH A PERSONAL MATRIX!”

 

*~*~*~*

 

Sharp, unbearable pain yanked Margali out of her unconsciousness, the terrible pain every human being gifted with laran felt when somebody touched their attuned, personal matrix. As dazed, sick and disorientated Margali felt, but she knew immediately that it hadn't been another keeper or at least leronis who had touched her matrix, but someone untrained, someone wanting to harm her.

The young keeper reacted instinctively, her fury-driven laran hitting the unknown attacker with unrestrained impetus and throwing them through the air until a loud, cracking noise and the irate roar of the creature proved to her that her adversary had made a painful acquaintance with a hard and unyielding obstacle, probably a wall or the ground.

“Don't touch a personal matrix!” she yelled as she sat up, her entire body screaming with the still unbearable pain, and only her fury and the knowledge that she had to stay awake if she didn't want to die right there and then kept her from slipping back into the blackness of another coma.

Margali blinked in the desperate attempt to clear her blurred vision, the hammering behind her forehead making her see only blood-red shadows. The shadows moved towards her, creeping up on her like a bunch of catmen. She felt too worn out and sick to move, and she didn't know if she would be able to use laran against them again, but she was not only the first keeper of Arilinn, but also a true Hastur, and Margali would fight and die like a proud Hastur.

“We need to kill her! She is a threat!” A strange, multi-toned voice hissed, sounding as if it came from far away, and Margali struggled to raise her burnt hand and grasp her pulsing starstone.

“No, we won't kill her. She could become important for us, she is powerful like a Queen!” Another multi-toned voice retorted, a voice obviously used to give orders and commands. One of the shadows bent over her, and Margali tried to detect the creature looming over her.

Definitely not a catman. Margali wasn't sure what this creature looked like, because she still couldn't see more than blurry shadows and strange colors, but she knew for certain that she had never seen any being looking like this, with long white hair, greenish skin and yellow eyes, wearing a long, armor-like black coat. Weird, she had really thought that she knew every species living on Darkover.

The exhausted keeper flinched when a claw-like, greenish hand came into sight all of a sudden, and she struggled weakly to get away from this hand. “Don't touch my matrix,” she croaked out as another wave of pain and nausea washed over her, pulling her into another faint.

“I won't, I promise,” the voice said, sounding almost gently, and the cool touch of the hand on her forehead felt oddly comforting, easing the pulsing ache beneath her temples at least a little bit. Margali sighed and closed her eyes, too weak to fight against the darkness swallowing her again any longer.

 

*~*~*~*

 

“We should kill her, nevertheless. She's dangerous, one of the Ancients wanting to extinct us!” His second insisted with a growl, causing the Commander to hiss at him. “No!” He didn't know what it was fascinating him that much about her, but he could sense her power and strength even through her unconsciousness and weakness, and he wouldn't allow anyone to touch this young woman looking more like a girl than a real grown-up woman.

“She can't be an Ancient, just look at her hands! She has six fingers instead of five. Apart from that, she lies before the quantum mirror, I'm sure that she comes from another reality,” he continued, pointing at the white hand curled around the matrix how she had called the blue gem she wore on a silver chain around her neck. Her hand enclosed the jewel, completely, but the Wraith could see the pulsing light through her skin. It was almost as if this gem was alive, and he felt drawn in to that light and could hardly look away.

“Her hand could be a mutation. She can still be an Ancient, coming from another reality, but she would still be our worst enemy then, Commander.” His head scientist spoke up, observing the mirror and the consoles next to it with narrowed eyes. “Here are more 'matrices'. They must have come with her through the mirror.” The other Wraith knelt down next to the spot where indeed three of these mysterious gems lay, partly hidden between the mirror and the wall. The Commander could see six jewels as he took a closer look now, all of them shining in this blue-light as if small bands were moving under the surface. They were of different sizes and irregular shape, just as if the pieces had once been one big jewel broken into these six pieces. The tall Wraith stared at the young woman again, finally coming to a decision.

“We will take them with us. The female and the matrices. Collect them carefully without touching them with your hand. Maybe, we can touch them harmlessly if we wrap something around them. Second, you'll have to share your life-force with your brother, you can feed when we're back on our Hive. I will carry her. Hurry up, we need to get out of here before the fire reaches this floor.”

His subordinates nodded their heads, and the scientist opened his coat, ripping stripes from his shirt to wrap them around the gems and pick them up. The Commander bared his teeth to a contented grin when nothing happened, reaching out with his hand to take the biggest jewel. “Each of us will carry one stone!” he said, and the other Wraith handed one matrix to the other three conscious Wraith. His second took two, shoving one of them into the pocket of his brother before pressing his feeding hand onto his chest. The younger one came back to life with a roar, sitting up and glaring around, ready to fight, his gaze unfocused for a couple of seconds.

“I'll explain the situation to you later, brother. We have to get out of here.” The older Wraith explained, offering him his hand. The other three Wraith already stood by the door, and the Commander carefully lifted the young woman onto his arms.

After one last glance back, the six Wraith left the lab, searching their way upwards and out of the abandoned building. One of the several extinguishing systems must have worked in the meantime, because the fire had stopped before reaching their room, and the smoke and the heat were bearable as they headed the way back they had come, the corridor where the three Ancients had taken them under fire leading upwards and back to the surface of the planet.

The six Wraith reached the Stargate, undisturbed, disappearing through the event horizon and materializing on the planet where they had left their scout-ship in the same second, the damaged and partly destroyed former Ancient outpost behind.

It was war, and it would take a rather long time until somebody – anybody – would come back to this planet to explore the still smoking ruins...


	2. Encounter In The Other World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wraith Commander has taken Margali with him when they left the planet. Margali's mind is trapped in the Other World because of the incident with her matrix, and he has to find a way to wake her up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dear Dulinneth, here is your next chapter. I hope you had a wonderful day and are feeling better tonight. Enjoy reading it!
> 
> The Other World is a level of higher existence where only the minds of telepathic beings can go.

Two days had passed since they had come back to their Hive, and the young woman was still unconscious and didn't react to anything. The Commander had decided that the safest place for her to stay would be his own quarters, and the only one who was allowed to come closer to her and examine her was his head scientist who had been a member of their team on that mission where they had found her.

The big bruise on her temple was already healing, and his scientist had seen to her burnt hands, treated them with a special ointment, and the tall Wraith found himself oftentimes standing before his bed where she lay, pale and silently, only the low and flat rising and falling of her breasts giving away that she was still alive and breathing. His scientist had wondered about her hands like he himself, because the injuries on her hands were the only ones except for the bruise, and the burns definitely didn't come from the fire in the building. The fire had stopped before it had reached the lab with the mirror, and the injuries looked as if the burning had come from the inside of her hands, as strange as this might seem to be.

The Commander had withdrawn for a couple of hours again, leaving his second on the bridge in the knowledge that his best officer was more than capable of commanding their Hive for the time being. They had found a planet with a strong electric field which would hide them for long enough from the warships of the Ancients to go on with their search for the planet where their enemies were constructing their weapon and to win more time.

Everything inside the Wraith screamed to join his brethren and revenge his adored Queen's death, but he knew that finding and destroying the weapon the Ancients were building was much more important than his personal feelings, and that his success would finally grant the survival of his species. Feeling useless and like a coward was a small price to pay if it meant that his race wouldn't be extincted.

He sighed, pushing his dark thoughts aside and focusing on the beautiful woman lying in his bed again. Somehow, he had the strong feeling that she could be the key to him being able to destroy the Attero-device before it would be too late, and it frustrated him that he didn't know how to wake her up. His scientist had highly recommended to touch her matrix again, but the memory of her scream of agony as his second had done it for the first time and the promise to not touch it he had given her kept him from doing so. His own hand had unconsciously closed around the blue gem he wore in his pocket, still wrapped in the garment of his second's former shirt, and the mere thought of anyone else touching it made him feel more than only slightly uncomfortable. The blue stone had been dark and cold at first, but then started to become warm under his touch, and each time he fished it out of his pocket to look at it, it shone in a soft blue light, the light flickering as if small bands moved under the surface.

The other five members of his team had made the same experience and the younger brother of his second, a young but very skilled warrior, had almost started a serious fight with one of the scientists when he had tried to touch and examine it, drawn in by the blue shimmer.

The Commander knew that some of his crew-members considered his human guest and the stones as dangerous and would rather see her killed and the matrices destroyed, but he was sure that they both would be of great use for him – if she would only eventually wake up so he could ask her about the stones!

It was almost as if she was trapped somewhere in her own head, unable to free herself from her mental prison and become aware of her surroundings again. His scientist had made a second suggestion, and the Commander had come to his quarters to do what he thought could work, as well. He had visited the level where they kept their food source and made sure that he was properly fed for what he was about to do now, because he didn't know how much of his strength he would have to share with her to rouse her from her coma. His left hand clenched around the matrix in his pocket as he sat down at the edge of the bed, carefully pulling at the sliver chain to get her matrix out of the way. He had promised her to not touch it, and he normally kept his promises. Apart from that, he really didn't want to fly through his quarters and make the same unpleasant experience like his second-in-command had done, and who had suffered from a bad headache afterwards for an entire day.

When he was sure that her matrix was out of the way, he gently pressed his right hand against her sternum, watching the beautiful face of the fascinating human female as he began to let his own strength flow into her cold and immobile body in a soft and rather small but steady trickle.

The Commander closed his eyes as he started to feel for her mind while he fed her with his own life-force, his left hand wrapped tightly around his matrix.

 

*~*~*~*

 

_Margali knew that she was trapped in her own head as she wandered aimlessly around in the Other World, desperately searching for her beloved Arilinn and her circle, or at least for anything familiar she could recognize and use as help to make her way back to where she had come from. She had seen other people being trapped in their brains after someone had touched their personal matrix, or because they couldn't control their laran or had misused it. Some of them, she had been able to save, but not all of them and the thought of having to wander around in the Other World forever truly scared her._

_Margali sighed, looking around in the gray-green fog the Other World had become for her. She craved for the sight of her wonderful tower, ached to see the green meadows with the blue and yellow flowers she loved so much, but there was nothing except for this strange greenish fog and a low and unnerving humming sound she didn't hear with her ears, but with her mind._

_The horrible pain another being had caused by touching her matrix had led to her mind fleeing from her tortured body, and Margali might be young, but she was also one of the strongest keepers who had ever walked over Darkover's surface, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to ever find her way back into her body if it didn't happen, soon. She could already feel how she lost the connection to her physical existence, the memory of how it had felt to have a body fading with every minute that passed. The young Hastur didn't know how much time had passed in the real world, but it must have been more than one day, that much she could tell._

_Margali looked around, not really knowing what she was looking for when she felt a soft pull at her astral body all of a sudden. She froze in place as realization hit her. There must be someone here in the Other World with her, and whoever he or she was, they were close to her and watched her from somewhere inside the fog. The only question now was: Was it an enemy or a friend?_

_The red-haired keeper narrowed her eyes, turning around just in time to see a strange figure appearing beside her, a tall creature with tousled, long white hair, wearing a black coat reaching down to his calves. A Chieri maybe? The alien being looked ageless, was rather tall and slim and it had long white hair, just like the chieri should look like. Even the golden eyes were as the old tales described the Chieris, But, this being had greenish skin, and didn't look like a real hermaphrodite despite the long hair and lithe body, for Margali, this creature looked definitely male. Maybe a Chieri in his male phase? He must have strong telepathic abilities, otherwise he couldn't have shown up in the Other World, another feature of the Chieris._

_The alien male watched her watching him with curiosity in his golden eyes, a smile ghosting around his grayish lips.'Your Chieris seem to be interesting living beings, and they surely have a lot in common with my own species, but no, I'm not a Chieri, little one, I'm a Wraith.'_

_'Little one?!' Margali did her best to scowl at the 'Wraith', even though she had to look up at him. 'How can you dare calling a Comyn – a Hastur and a keeper of Arilinn little one? The appropriate addressing would be Teneresteis or at least Vai Domna – My Lady! Others have been killed for less!'_

_The unknown male cocked his head to the side and Margali could feel his amusement in her mind. Yet, he didn't laugh at her, only bent his head in a bow. 'I'm truly sorry, My Lady – Vai Domna. It wasn't my intention to insult you. You only seem to be very young compared with me. I guess that your Comyn are the aristocrats of your planet, and Hastur sounds like a name to me. But, would you please tell me what a Teneresteis is?'_

_The young keeper knew that she should have felt offended and angry by his behavior, but this strange alien fascinated her far too much, and if she was honest with herself, then she enjoyed it to be treated like a young woman instead of a sacrosanct, untouchable priest more than she probably should have. “Teneresteis is the Casta word for keeper. Your language is odd by the way. Is it another dialect of the Cahuenga? I can only understand you properly because we are in the Other World here. And yes, us Comyn are the aristocrats of Darkover, and the family of Hastur is the highest of all Comyn families. I'm Margali Hastur, Teneresteis of the most powerful tower called Arilinn.'_

_The Wraith bowed his head again. 'I see, Vai Domna Margali Hastur. Your name is as beautiful as you are.'_

_Margali felt her astral face blushing, something that shouldn't be possible in the Other World, but this Other World was as strange as everything that had happened after her attempt to defeat the tower of Hali. She had just opened her mouth to tell him that physical beauty didn't matter to a keeper having to live an abstinent life when she froze, realizing what he had said earlier. 'What did you mean when you said 'your planet'? We are on Darkover, aren't we?' she asked, alarmed, her mind voice trembling slightly._

_The tall male with the long white hair looked at her, his eyes filled with regret and understanding. 'I'm afraid we're not, Vai Domna Margali Hastur. I assume that you came from another reality through a gate we call quantum mirror. At least, we found you lying before that mirror. I've never heard of a planet called Darkover and its towers, and even though the language of my race has some similarities with yours, but it is definitely neither your Casta, nor this Cahengua you mentioned. Maybe, your ancestors were Ancients or humans related to them. I don't know in which galaxy your Darkover is settled, but this here is the Pegasus galaxy.'_

_Margali dropped down on the slightly yielding floor she couldn't see, the gray-green fog wafting around her. The alien calling himself Wraith followed her example, his gaze curious and almost gentle. 'I see,' she murmured, not questioning what he had said. She could see in his golden eyes that he had spoken the truth, as impossible as it sounded. 'And how do you call this planet?'_

_The Wraith smiled. 'We are not on a planet, Teneresteis. We are on board my Hive. My race lives on huge spaceships between the stars. What you can see here is my Hive. You haven't really seen it so far, therefore, you couldn't fill it with the right interior, but the darkness and the humid fog-like air is the surrounding we prefer to live in. Shall I show you my bridge, Vai Domna?'_

_Margali nodded, forgetting her shock for one moment. She was curious to learn how this Hive the Wraith had talked about looked like, and she looked attentively around when the emptiness was filled with consoles and strange furniture all of a sudden, the walls of the large hall pulsing and glowing in a violet shimmer. The young keeper could see other Wraith on the bridge, but she sensed that they were only a projection of the Wraith's imagination and not an actual part of the Other World. 'I never saw something like this before,' she mused, and her companion chuckled. 'I've never seen matrices before,' he stated, dryly. 'I'm convinced that we can learn from each other, a lot, Vai Domna Margali Hastur.'_

_Margali scowled at him again. 'It's only Vai Domna. Or Teneresteis.'_

_The Wraith shot her a cunning glance. 'That's a pity. I do like your name, a lot, My Lady.'_

_She sighed, suppressing the urge to stomp her foot and roll her eyes. She was the keeper of Arilinn, and not a small child, even though she was only twenty. 'You know my name, but I don't know yours. I cannot call you 'Wraith' all of the time. What is a Wraith by the way? I've never heard this word before. Does it have a meaning?'_

_The Wraith chuckled again. 'Wraith means ghost, Vai Domna. That's because we can let humans see 'ghosts' with our telepathic mind. Humans were the first calling us Wraith and after some centuries had passed, we started to call us Wraith, as well. And I don't have a name. Wraith are a telepathic species and all Wraith living on a Hive are linked through the Hive-mind – the humming you can hear. We don't need names.' He watched her considering this, waiting patiently for her reaction._

_'I think I know what you mean. It's the same when I am linked with my circle. We are so close as if we were one being, and I can recognize each member of my circle by their mind-voice. We don't need names, then either,' Margali said and the male alien smiled at her. He had sharp teeth and most people would only have seen a grimace, but she could feel his smile in her mind. 'Exactly like that. You are a powerful telepath yourself, stronger than any Wraith Queen I've ever met.'_

_'Wraith Queen?' Margali frowned, but before she could ask him about the Queens he had mentioned, she felt warmth floating through her body – her astral body as much as her real body, and the sensation was so delicious and wonderful that she moaned with pleasure. She had been so distracted by their conversation that she hadn't noticed this warmth before, but the pleasurable feeling became stronger and stronger now, and Margali felt her physical body pull at her astral body as both tried to reunite again._

_'What are you doing to me?' she gasped out, not sure whether she was ready to leave the Other World and face reality again, or if she wanted to stay in this strangely peaceful world for a while longer._

_'I needed to find a way to bring you back from the place where your mind is trapped, Margali Hastur,' the Wraith said, watching her astral body becoming smaller and smaller as she slipped back into her human shell again. 'I'm giving you the Gift of Life by sharing my life-force with you. I didn't know if it would work and started with a small trickle, but it did and I increased the dose. The Gift of Life will also heal your injuries.'_

_'But, why are you doing this?' Margali asked, confused and thrilled at the same time. The pull was too strong to fight against it any longer, and the pleasure she felt was almost overwhelming, something similar to what she felt when she was connected with her circle and yet totally different._

_'Because I need you, Teneresteis. My species is in danger to be extincted by another race we call the Ancients, and I do believe that you are the one who can help us destroying the weapon they are building to destroy our Hives and erase us from this universe. Don't be afraid, Margali Hastur, I would never harm you. We will see us again, soon, this time in the real world on board my Hive, Teneresteis, and then, I will tell you all you need to know.'_

_With these words, the tall Wraith disappeared, becoming one with the fog wafting around her and for one moment, everything became dark around her. Margali closed her eyes and stopped fighting against the urge to reunite with her body again. Her astral body hovered over her physical body for one or two seconds and then, slipped back into the shell it belonged to, silently and gracefully._

 

*~*~*~*

 

There was a heavy weight pressing down on her breast and something hot, powerful and painfully delicious floated into her body, making every cell of her sing with ecstasy and energy. Margali Hastur arched her back into the touch, and it took her a moment to recognize the moans and gasps as her own ones, her voice sounding strange to herself somehow.

Margali's eyes snapped open, and the first thing she saw when she came back to her senses again was the alien face and the golden eyes of the Wraith staring down at her.


	3. An Astonishing Revelation And A Honorable Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margali finally wakes up and she and the Commander talk personally, learning some interesting things...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry dear it took me longer than planned, but here it is, your new chapter. I do hope you will like it as much as the first two ones. :-)

Margali Hastur blinked, her silver-gray glance sharpening after a couple of seconds. The Wraith Commander drew his hand back from her chest, slowly and with something akin to regret. He didn't know what it was that drew him in to her that much, maybe it was because she hadn't shown any sign of fear when they had talked in the Other World.

He had never hated all humans that much like most of his brethren did, making a difference between the Ancients and other humans. The humans living in this galaxy worshiped the Ancients as Gods, and they knew that of course and oftentimes behaved as if they actually Gods, arrogantly and even mercilessly, and the Commander hated the Ancients with all his heart. But, not all human races living in the Pegasus galaxy were like them, and even though he had to kill humans in order to feed and survive himself, but he respected life in general, and for him, humans were not only his food source, but intelligent and sentient living beings and he didn't kill them if he didn't have to.

Margali without a doubt belonged to a caste of aristocrats which considered themselves as the upper class, born to rule the other ones, but she hadn't looked at him with the same disgust and contempt like the Ancients did, and she also hadn't been as scared as every other human would have been standing face to face with a Wraith. Of course, she obviously had never met the Wraith before this day, her planet Darkover not being culled by them so far, but this couldn't be the only reason for his fascination and her will to treat him as an equal to her.

Maybe, it was because they had similar telepathic abilities, hers much stronger than the power Wraith Queens normally had. The Ancients weren't a telepathic species, developing those skills only before they ascended, and the Commander had never met any other human race having psionic skills before Margali had entered his life.

“Vai Domna, I'm more than pleased to finally see you well and healthy in person,” he greeted her when her eyes focused on him with appraisal instead of confusion. “As much as I enjoyed our talk on my imaginary Hive, but talking to you in person will be an even greater pleasure, I'm sure about that.”

The young woman sat up, carefully avoiding to touch him as she did so. The Commander felt offended and almost hurt for one moment, which surprised him himself but, after all, he had been willing to share his own life-force with her only a couple of minutes before, the most intimate act possible, much more intimate than sex and even telepathy, but then he realized that it had nothing to do with him. Margali's status as a Teneresteis how she called herself must have something to do with her discomfort to be touched, or maybe her telepathy or both. Wraith didn't rely on physical contact themselves that much, their mental Hive-bond comforting and reassuring them much better than hugs and touches would do. There was no loathe directed at him as she watched him, attentively, even not real mistrust, more cautious wariness and curiosity she couldn't really hide although she tried her best, and it was now clear to him that she had unconsciously avoided his touch just as if she had learned that from an early age on. Maybe, it was because she was female and he male, a lot of societies separated their young, unmarried women from their males and taught their females to avoid being touched by males even in an innocent way.

Her words pulled him out of his musings and he focused on her sweet, melodic voice. It was hard to understand her, because she spoke a language he had never heard before, but their talk from mind to mind in the Other World helped him to understand what she was saying although they weren't mentally connected right now.

“Where am I? I know that I am on board your – Hive, but whose quarters are these?”

“They are mine,” the Commander answered her question, not even thinking of trying to lie to her. She would probably know it, instantly, if he tried that, and there was no other human from her planet who could have been upset about the fact that she had spent the last days in the quarters of a male alien not related to her.

“I see.” Margali pressed her red lips to a thin line, moving away from him as best as she could. She didn't look pleased, but she didn't look disgusted, either. If anything, then there was annoyed resignation showing in her silvery eyes.

“My quarters are the safest place for you to stay, believe me. My crew is as mistrustful towards you as you are towards us,” he explained to her, and she let out a small sigh.

“That's understandable. I have to thank you that you saw to my well-being while I was defenseless and trapped in the Other World then, I guess.” She eyed him with pursed lips. “Why didn't you try to touch my matrix? It would have been the fastest way to wake me up?” she asked, curiously, her hand reaching for the in a bright blue light shining matrix hanging between her breasts. The touch seemed to soothe and strengthen her, because her posture and features relaxed, visibly.

“Or to kill you,” the Commander stated, dryly. “The most painful way, that's for sure. I had promised you to not touch it before you lost consciousness again, Vai Domna.”

“Yes, you had. Thank you.” Her voice sounded thoughtfully. “I can feel the presence of another matrix, one attuned to you. It isn't as powerful as mine, but powerful enough that only a matrix-mechanic could handle it. How come that?” Margali had narrowed her eyes, and the tall Wraith pulled the blue gem out of his pocket, showing it to her but keeping it firmly between his fingers so she couldn't grasp it.

“We found those stones before we left the lab where we had found you. They must have come through the mirror with you. The members of my team have the other matrices, each of the five carrying one gem in their pockets. It looks as if a large matrix had broken into six smaller pieces,” he said, instinctively pulling his hand away when she reached out to touch it.

The young woman smiled, offering her flat palm to him. “I'm a Teneresteis, I can touch a personal matrix without causing the owner any pain. You can trust me,” she said, gently, and after one more moment of hesitation, he laid the shimmering jewel in her hand. It didn't hurt just like she had promised him, but he felt a strange tingling in his body, and he could sense the touch of her mind through the matrix, as strange as this seemed to be.

Margali brushed with her fingertips over the surface ever so slightly, and the Wraith could feel her fingers just as if she had touched him and not his matrix. “I recognize the matrix, it was the biggest matrix of our shield, level seven or eight. You mentioned five other pieces?”

The Commander nodded. “Yes, five others and this one. My matrix is the largest one.”

“And they all carry them in their pockets close to their bodies and have telepathic abilities?” she looked amazed and thrilled, and he wasn't so sure whether he should feel thrilled himself or better concerned.

“Yes, they do and yes, they have.”

“Then, all of the other pieces are attuned to their owners now like this one is attuned to you.”

“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” he rumbled, and Margali smiled at him. “That depends. You are uneducated and need supervision, but you have actually started to build a circle when you took the matrices with you. With me as your Teneresteis, we could build a tower, the Thirteenth Tower of Darkover even though we're not on my planet.”

 

*~*~*~*

 

Margali could see the golden eyes of the tall Wraith staring at her with surprise and something akin to excitement, at least if she read his alien features and his not human eyes as good as she had read his mind in the other world.

“What would such a tower be good for?” he finally asked, and his strange multi-toned voice vibrated with barely hidden eagerness. He obviously had something in his mind, but he had shielded his thoughts from her as best as he could when she had touched his matrix, an unconscious reaction to protect himself. The oath she had sworn as a Teneresteis forbade her to force herself into his thoughts and apart from that, she respected his wish to stay alone in his head. The mind-bond was something far too intimate to share it carelessly with someone one didn't know well. She could understand most of what he said without reading his thoughts by now, and the connection through the matrix she still held in her hand told her that he didn't want to harm her with what he had in his mind.

“For whatever you want. The Towers of Darkover have a lot of tasks, mining for example, building houses, electricity, we transfer messages over long distances within seconds and there are a lot of other things a powerful circle can do.”

“What about weapons?”

The question came out of the blue, and Margali flinched, violently, her hand clenching around his matrix involuntarily. The Wraith gasped by the sudden rush of anger and anxiety coursing through his body she had sent out. “You want to build a weapon?” she growled, asking herself in what kind of reality she had been thrown into. Could it really be that there was war in each and every other world? The young keeper was so tired of fighting and hurting other people, of killing them with her force and her power and she only wanted to end it. The war on Darkover had pushed her through a strange gate into another universe or at least on another place far away from her home planet in her own reality, and all Margali wanted was to go back to Darkover and help her circle which had become her family, as well.

The Commander had watched her, silently after his first shock about her reaction. “You obviously know what war is much better than I would have thought considering your young age,” he stated, calmly. The red-haired keeper swallowed. “Yes, I know what war is. The Towers have been used by the different parties to build weapons and destroy lives for far too long. Truth to be told, the circles of my beloved Arilinn fought against a severe attack from another Tower when I was thrown into your world by accident.”

“You fight with mental power against each other,” the Commander realized, and Margali nodded her head. "But, the effects are also of physical nature, we can destroy entire landscapes and kill a lot of humans with our power.”

“I thought so. Our Queens are capable of killing with the force of her minds, as well. But we don't have the power to cause severe destruction on solid structures with our minds, except for when it comes to other Hives.”

“So you're at war with other Hives? A civil war?” Margali narrowed her eyes in confusion.

The alien creature shook his head. “No, we're not. We're at war with a human species called 'Ancients'. They are powerful and have the highest technology known in this universe. They built the mirror you came through. They want to erase us, and they will succeed if I won't be able to stop them. That's why I asked you about weapons. I don't want to build one, but to destroy one. The Ancients are about to finish a weapon that will let explode all Hives and kill all Wraith if we won't find a way to keep them from doing so. With your help, this should be possible.”

Margali nodded her head. “I see. War is cruel and bloody and never reasonable. Why do your two races hate each other that much?”

“This is a long story, I will tell it to you, but not now. You need to eat and to rest a little bit before we can think of building a Tower,” the Wraith objected, and Margali's stomach growled loudly when the word 'eat' was mentioned.

“Something to eat would be nice,” she sighed, wistfully. “I'm starving.”

He chuckled. “I can imagine. I will see to you having brought food, instantly.” He focused inwardly and Margali could feel him reaching out with his thoughts to his brethren through the matrix. They had both forgotten that she was still holding it, and now, she looked at it, musingly. The movements of the shimmering bands underneath the surface created images of the matrix' owner into her mind, and she 'watched' him standing on his bridge, his posture proud and straight, and his face the face of a true, brave warrior, a fighter as he commanded his Hive, defending his kin with all his heart and his power from being extincted. She saw his Hive flying through the dark space, the lights of the blinking stars letting the skin-like outer shell of his star-ship shimmer like a giant, dark jewel, and suddenly, she knew which name she would call this alien male by, an obviously pretty dangerous creature that fascinated her like no one else had ever fascinated her before.

When she saw him watching her, she smiled at him, looking at the black, star-like tattoo circling his left eye before meeting his questioning gaze.

“I know that you said that Wraith don't have names, and I understand why you don't need them when you're only among your brethren. But, us humans need names, even those who have telepathic abilities, and I would like to give you a name if I'm allowed to do that.”

The Commander bowed his head before her. “Of course, Teneresteis Margali Hastur. I'd be honored and very pleased if you did that,” he said, and the honesty in his voice was serious.

“Then I will give you one. Your personal matrix helped me to find an appropriate name that will honor your character and your skills. Your name will be Starfighter, and this is how I will call you in the future, because that's what you truly are, Wraith Commander, a Starfighter.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'll explain the world of Darkover and the used words MZB created in the notes above the first chapter, there will be more explanations along the way, so please check the notes or ask what you want to know in case there is something you don't understand.


End file.
